The annual National College Entrance Examination, or "Gaokao," started on Tuesday. The media cameras have been capturing expressions of expectation, anxiety and restlessness on the faces of students and their parents. Also on Tuesday, Yao Jiaxin, a university student who stabbed a young mother to death to cover up a hit-and-run accident, was executed.

This coincidence is somehow ironic.

The art college student who passed the "Gaokao" became a murderer in this accident. This made me think, what's wrong with our education system?

[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

As an examination monitor, I have met many parents over the years. When they send their children to the exam rooms, none of them really care about their children's personality, virtue or psychological health. They only care about the scores and what kind of university their children can enter. To them, the importance of education is not the integrity and ability of their children, but their own face and desire. So was the thinking of Yao's parents. They applied a cruel training regiment to get him into the conservatory of music. Yao said that he was locked in a basement to play the piano and was not allowed to go upstairs except for the meals. At that time, he lived in desperation and often thought of committing suicide. Such a rigid education deprives children of their natural development and oppresses their personalities and hopes for life. Yao's parents discarded his character and psychology, and moreover, love and responsibility, the essential elements of education. Lack of care and love in Yao's growth caused a psychological distortion. That's why he behaved so cruelly.

Chinese parents hope their children's education will earn them wealth and a high position. Many parents send their children to the best schools and sign them up for all kinds of extracurricular classes to ensure the children have a "high-quality" education. But what is the real "high-quality" education? The answer should be good behavior training and love from the parents. Unfortunately, almost all the parents neglect this. They think they have fulfilled their responsibility after the children get into schools. If a child does not study, it should be the child's problem, the school's problem or a social problem. They do not realize such thoughts and deeds are actually shirking from their responsibilities. The main purpose of schooling is to give students knowledge and a way of thinking. But basic factors, such as character, mind, responsibility, righteousness, awe toward life, sympathy and a kind heart are nurtured by parents. School is not almighty.